


of stone and coral bone

by pomme (manta)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged Up, Domestic, F/M, and i spent quite some time on this so quadruple that number, brief sexual implications, high key ode to dy snuggles in the am, i love mao a lot I'M SORRY, lots of da beach, maybe a proposal, this was an excuse to yell about yui oops, words are hard and i lost count of the number of cookies i stress ate writing this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-03 05:38:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5278748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manta/pseuds/pomme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Infatuated, spontaneous; Sawamura Daichi was neither of these things. But they became him, because of her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	of stone and coral bone

**Author's Note:**

> Belatedly written for [Daiyui Week](http://daiyuiweek.tumblr.com/), and as a suuuuuuper late birthday gift for [Michi](http://michichans.tumblr.com/). Very, very sorry for the delay, and for vanishing off the virtual earth in the process of finishing this. I'm so frackin' nervous but please enjoy, love ya!
> 
> Thanks to the great [Sasa](http://archiveofourown.org/users/b_minor) for beta-ing and reminding me I wasn't doomed, all the times that I insisted I was.

_Prompt: Aged Up/Photograph_

 

 

Daichi’s alarm blares, obnoxious and piercing, when even the sun’s rays don’t have the clarity of mind to peek through the curtains.

Not one to merely endure the ruckus, he rises immediately. By the time he’s straightened his half of the white sheets, brushed his teeth, shaved, and washed his face, her alarm’s gone off an additional three times.

She slumbers on, unperturbed.

Daichi shakes his head and sighs. But he’s smiling when he kneels beside her cocooned form.

“Yui, it’s six.”

“Mmph,” she says, and nestles deeper into her pillow.

He’d like nothing more to let her sleep in, set before her a tray of steaming miso soup and tea with toast, settling in to wrap himself around her. But it’s an unforgiving Wednesday; there are places to go, people to see, things to do beyond the apartment’s confines. Daichi can’t keep his patients at the hospital waiting, and neither can she, for hers at the animal clinic.

“Yui.” He reaches out to gently shake her shoulder, feeling cruel. “I’m sorry. But you told me to wake you.”

She cracks open a bleary eye, finally stirring. “Yeah,” she breathes, voice rough with sleep. Daichi presses his lips to her temple, and barely skims her skin through the hair swept over her face. He carefully tucks the strands behind her ear, and tries again.

Her mouth curls upward, slow but sure. “Morning, handsome.”

“Hey, beautiful.”

A sunbeam finds the split in the sea foam green curtains. It cuts straight across Yui’s face (her one visible pupil, brown and typically full of warm emotion, is still rising to a boil) and pauses at the photograph on her bedside table.

The picture is in the frame Daichi made himself, in a fit of poorly thought out inspiration. The glue gobs are long hardened, and he still feels a hint of embarrassment recalling how hard he tried and failed to position the tiny decorations. He doesn’t have Yui’s sense for art; her capability manifests itself in practical ways, like the cheer she's imbued into the house furniture, or the good luck charm for him in his last high school volleyball tournament.

But Daichi stubbornly stood his ground, with the clumsily crafted frame hidden behind his back. He cleared his throat and rubbed absently at the back of his head, habits he picked up in adolescence and could never quite break. Yui turned away from the pot of congee she was stirring on the stove to look at him, innocently curious. The sight of her in nothing but his oversized shirt and her ruffled pink apron tied with an inviting bow simultaneously calmed and frenzied his nerves.

It was only by the mercy of the gods that his voice didn't break.

“Happy anniversary. Uh, somehow I thought this would be a good present. Sorry. But I have more stuff planned to make up for it-”

Yui cleared the room in three leaps.

Daichi had the sense of mind to toss the frame onto the counter and steadied himself against the fridge. He caught her under her bare thighs, surged to meet her as she crashed into him. They were immovable then, whether they were facing the crowd flooding onto a volleyball court- or the world.

 

* * *

 

Daichi came home one night, to find fried rice on the stove as usual. The cook, however, was missing, and he looked around a moment before spotting his girlfriend, flopped on the couch and buried under every pillow they owned.

"An escaped snake started a waiting room stampede, four year old triplets cried for half an hour about their sick bullfrog, and five dogs all had rectal exams and hysterical owners," Yui moaned, not even surfacing to answer Daichi's questioning look. "Who wouldn't have a migraine after a day like that?"

He reached through the cushions for where he guessed her shoulders were. "Sounds rough. Thanks for the food."

"Of course." He kneaded down, and she sighed. "Daichi... What I'd give for a holiday."

Yui was the whimsical one, usually responsible for their spontaneous adventures.

Daichi was the planner. And Daichi the planner had one plan for this weekend: sleep, eat, and laze about on the couch. He'd had a rather hectic week himself. 

Daichi had plans. And then he had _plans,_ solidified after three years of dating. _Plans_ that included a week at a romantic hotel, and a ring, and a girlfriend not exhausted from performing canine prostate checks. He couldn't live his life without some game plan, without placing himself in a position so as to anticipate the next step and the best way to receive it.

But that was the nature of _plans,_ especially plans where Yui was concerned: the more concrete they were, the more they strayed from expectations. She rerouted them, in that maddeningly endearing, effortless way she had. She swept people off their feet- charged at them, seized them about the legs, and kept going until they fell headway into the waves. Her openness disarmed everyone she spoke to. Her friendly smile was practically trademarked, reputed for melting even the most stoic of her patients.

Daichi looked at the fried rice, ready in its dark green bowl and covered with a matching lid. He ran a hand through Yui's hair, and she hummed. “Let’s go to the beach this weekend,” he said.

Yui's head finally broke the surface of her pillow fort. "Really??" she demanded, hopeful. "I mean, if you'd rather sleep in and read the newspaper, I understand..."

"Really."

And not just any beach. Crazy, his mind said; they could only spare a day, but Yui was up for anything. Fortunately, she never needed much convincing when Daichi was the one who wanted to get away. Her worries over his health from long shifts in the oncology ward meant any time away from work was good for him, too. She could be stir-crazy, restless energy- and then there was the burned out Yui, with knots in her back that he loosened with his hands, and knots in his spirit that unravelled at her smile.

"Let's go!" she crowed, and took the hand at her shoulders to kiss his knuckles.

 

* * *

 

"Hello, this is Aihara."

"Hi, it's-"

"Oh hey, Sawamura! I expected Yui, she's been calling me from your number. So she finally bought a new phone?"

"What happened to the old one?"

"She got distracted talking about you, and tossed it instead of the bone to my dog. And my dog _loves_ his snacks- her poor phone didn't stand a chance."

"... No wonder she told me to call her office number for a week."

"She didn't want to bother you. When she spaces out, she really goes for it, like everything she does. Love that girl." There was a yelp and a small crash; Mao cursed. "I just set everything up, too! And I shoot in thirty minutes. This better be good, Sawamura!"

Daichi considered apologizing, then stopped himself because Mao would roast him for wasting time. "Can you ask Sasaki to book us round trip plane tickets to Miyakojima? And a rental car?"

Mao was still very put out. "I can catch her as she's leaving work, Chizuru's too nice for her own good. When's the trip? For how long?"

"... Just for this weekend," Daichi said carefully.

As he expected, Mao paused. "Isn't Yui working overtime so she can go to that vet conference next month?"

"She's exhausted. We both are. We could use a break."

"Mm, can't argue with that. Not sure if Yui's dating a guy, or the ghost of one."

"Hey," Daichi started to protest. "That's-"

"Don't get yourself worked up, you're busy saving the world. I get it. So ask Chizuru for three plane tickets and two cars, and you got yourself a deal." Mao laughed at the dark silence on Daichi's end. "Don't worry, I won't hang around with you and Yui. But I think I _will_ hang around for a bit."

"What on earth for?"

"Oh, I don't know; there's always something. Good scenery, right? Blue skies. Pink sunsets. Wallpaper worthy shots. I'm a photographer, I must like that stuff."

"Except you don't." Anyone familiar with Mao's favourite habit of holing herself up with B horror movies knew none of her hobbies extensively included the outdoors.

"That's presumptuous, coming from the most predictable guy I know arranging an impromptu weekend getaway. Sawamura, you're so far gone, you don't even _know_."

"I'm not sure what that means, but you really don't need to tag along with us. If you're worried about Yui..."

"Oh, I'm not worried about her. Just how much of a _pain_ this'll be. Lugging my equipment along on such short notice is tiring me out just thinking about it. Can't say I'm looking forward to the location either. Direct sunlight, ugh. The glare'll ruin all my shots."

"How terrible it is, to force yourself to go on vacation."

"We creative types gotta keep feeding our muses. Besides, Suga and I agree something's stirring in the cosmos."

"Aihara, I can't see you placing your faith in something as lofty as the cosmos. Or voluntarily setting foot on a beach."

"Oi. You want your tickets or not?"

 

* * *

 

They arrived- not to a flat expanse of sand but a great mountain of it, anchored in place by plants that wound shallow tendrils into the fine grains.

"Is there even an ocean?" Yui raised an eyebrow. “Or is this just a beach of sand?”

“Actually, the beach is over this hill,” Daichi said, but they were both laughing.

A considerably tame reaction, he thought, when she hadn't so much as made a peep when they boarded two planes instead of a boat. She started fidgeting when they cruised along an unfamiliar road, but settled down at the familiarly salty air lingering on their tongues. She hadn't grown docile being with him, like some of their classmates assumed; rather, she had developed a calm that her job entailed. Daichi had quickly learned animal patients needed as much soothing as human ones did.

They wasted no time tackling the hill. They had barely taken five steps when, with an impatient huff, Yui kicked off her sandals and Daichi followed suit. They wended their way up barefoot, the white sand soft beneath their soles. 

Yui's pale yellow sundress billowed about in the breeze. The fabric matched the butterflies that accompanied them, and Daichi watched her contentedly scrunch her toes into the sand with each step. "We're really out of shape, huh?" she chirped.

She wasn't even panting; those evening runs with Mao had paid off. Daichi knew she used the inclusive "we" for his benefit. Disgraceful. " _We're_ fine," he responded, pointedly.

"That so?" She grinned. "Race you, then!"

"All right, all right. You caught me." Once upon a time, he would have charged a hill this size with a schoolboy's rash zeal. But that was a younger Daichi, at his physical peak and without the beginnings of stomach pudge, and the current Daichi didn't want to risk his health.

"Tough luck, Sawamura," she teased, and he let her tow him along by the hand. "You should really come along with Mao and me- she's super vigilant about getting me outside. Running's a lot more flexible than setting up volleyball games on the weekends- WHOA!"

They had reached the top.

The gradated hill showed a preview of the beach in its splendor. Unruly ocean plants, clustered and short, tumbled down both sides of the path in a pair of stilled green avalanches, framing the straight shot view down to the beach and emerald green waters below. Yui stared down the intimidating slope, anticipating, appreciating. "Come on!" she declared, and pulled Daichi with her, propelling them both.

They rushed pell-mell, kicking up small craters in the sand as they hurtled downwards. Yui burst into a fit of giggles when a disgruntled child called after them to his mother, "Why can't  _I_ do that? You never let me have any fun!"

They didn't stop running until they were well past where the hill melted into the beach proper, the sand a memory, when they plunged into the ocean. The weather was slightly cold and the water was warm, but it wasn't swimming season; they sat in the sand beds of emerald green, clear water, letting the waves wash over them and carry them to shore.

When the sunscreen bottle proved to be more air than substance and Daichi's shoulders turned pink, Yui plopped her large straw hat on his head, deciding he could shade the both of them. They visited the alcove cafe for drinks, the rock overhang protecting them from the worst of the gusts. They attempted to toss a volleyball back and forth but the wind was too strong, and they quickly gave up.

"How was this for a holiday?" Daichi asked. They were walking arm-in-arm along the coast.

"Loved it!" she sang, happily raising her feet to raise huge splashes. Daichi had protested when Yui first got her sundress wet; now, sand-coated and sodden, she was every bit as content as she was when it was pristine.

They had made their way slowly along the shoreline, returning now to the ocean-eroded, green-encrusted arch that was the beach's distinct landmark. The sun was at its brightest before it flared out in vivid red and dipped below the horizon, the circle captured in the arc. Daichi was suddenly very aware of the  _finality_ of it all, the last opportunity before they threw themselves back into their hectic lives, the high tide on the shallow beach eating up the sand and lapping at their feet.

 _Plans_ rose unbidden, like the undercurrents that prevented them from wading into the open water. This was stupid, silly. He was unprepared, had been this entire trip. He didn't even have a ring.

But Yui threw her head back to laugh at him wearing her enormous hat. The wind ruffled her short hair as she clapped in delight, declaring she thought him most handsome one last time before she folded the hat into her tote bag, and something clicked into place.

The trip was spontaneous; the feeling was not. It wasn’t a " _wh_ _y_   _not?_ "; rather, it was a " _no matter what view we wake up to, I want you with me_."

He stepped away to face her, still holding her hand.

“Daichi?” But even as Yui spoke she caught the resolve in his eyes, and her own widened with realization. “Oh... _Oh._ ”

She was on the verge of reacting with her entire self, with a fullness that only Yui was possible of expressing. But Daichi wanted to be ready before her, ask the question and catch her before she fell into his waiting arms.

Her mouth responded before the rest of her did. "Daichi, _yes_ , of course! Yes, yes, yes!"

"Well, that's a relief. Let me ask properly?"

She rubbed at her eyes with her free hand. "Oh, right! Got ahead of myself."

"To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm doing either." He took a deep breath. "Michimiya Yui-"

"Yes!" she answered promptly, and Daichi had to press his lips together to keep from chuckling.

"-my other half, my beautiful girlfriend, and the love of my life," he continued. "You drive me crazy. Drove me crazy enough to bring us both here, when we're busy as hell and definitely don't have the time for-"

"Wow, this is really _happening,"_ Yui marvelled aloud. "How did a girl get this lucky?"

Daichi sighed in pretend annoyance. "If the love of my life doesn't mind, I'm wearing my heart on my sleeve here."

She smothered a giggle and fought to compose herself, eyes shining. "Sorry. Go ahead."

And there in the shallows, with the sky above and the sand about their feet painted gold, Daichi kneeled.

 

* * *

 

_Come join us for drinks._

_And fine, your trip is paid for._

 

Mao arrived shortly after Daichi's text, radiating smugness from every pore. But she said nothing, past responding to Yui's delighted squeals and diligently answering a flurry of texts.

"Suga thought you'd be busy," she said, to Daichi's curious glance. "He demanded all the details, and I'm giving them to him."

"I'd expect nothing less of Suga. And of you."

She shrugged. "Not like I was here for the most important part. That's yours and Yui's."

The photograph Mao took fits perfectly in Daichi's shoddily made frame on Yui's bedside table. It represents little of the day's excitement; Daichi and Yui have their heads together over their magenta dragonfruit smoothies, their matching smiles true and photogenic. Daichi's fitted black shirt isn't speckled with dried salt, and Yui's wearing a clean maxi dress patterned in shades of green. She has her arm slung around Daichi's shoulders. On her finger, she sports a ring made of pearl coloured shell lined with green and white; Daichi bought it in a small shop selling only items made with shells.

"So dashing," Yui says fondly, when she looks at the photograph on her table.

"So dashing when you cry," she says tenderly, whenever she borrows Daichi's phone. It's the photo no one else has seen: they're still cheek to cheek but nowhere near as presentable, making the most of the twilight for one blissful selfie under the arch in the final rays of the sunlight.

He always groans good-naturedly. “I barely held it together!”

He notes the tears threatening to spill over, his mouth drawn stiff- not poised for admonishments, to keep himself together. He held her close, awed how a woman who could simultaneously be so pliant in his arms, could deliver gut punches leaving him wheezing for breath.

And that's how love is, seeing as how she'll protest when he says she's beautiful in the same photograph. "Beautiful? Look at my runny nose, my splotchy cheeks, my red nose! I have a huge cowlick from the wind! Look at that splatter of sand on my lip!" she complains cheerfully.

"I kissed that cute sand splatter," Daichi responds, mock-hurt.

"There's one on you too," she likes to say, and presses her mouth to his.

He’ll never share the fierceness of that possessive streak as he reaches back in return, as selfish as a crow swooping in for its share of the scraps.

_Mine._

He takes Yui’s shoulder again, firmly this time, stroking along her bare arm with his thumb. The mattress springs bend to the pressure of his elbow. She sighs when Daichi meets her lips with his, slow and warm - so unlike their first kiss, which was hard adrenaline and in front of a full house of volleyball tournament spectators. 

She curls a lazy hand around his head to bring him closer. He, in turn, places a hand on her back, his palm flat against the fabric of the rattiest of his old rock band T-shirts, found by Yui when she somehow found time to finally unpack all of their moving boxes.

He knows a lot of things about her: when she's pretending to be brave, to get the hell out of her way when she's made up her mind, the telltale bump of the mole on her lower back that he can feel in the dark. There are some things he doesn’t have to know but wants to know anyway, like who she dated before he finally realized a racing heart and sweaty palms around her didn't just mean he associated her with the excitement of a volleyball game. (“Her exes were decent enough,” is all Mao, the tight-lipped best friend, will say.)

And there are the things Daichi will discover, in the time to come. When Yui's warm smile is accompanied by deep-set laugh lines that match his. How severely her eyebrows can furrow, to hear he missed his dental appointment with Ikejiri for the third time, determinedly ignoring the dull ache in the gum where he knocked out his tooth in high school. How good she feels: slick, heaving, warm, pressed flush against him, her back on the shower wall as her moans echo off of the tiles.

“Five more minutes,” Yui says with faint petulance, exhaustion colouring the corners of her voice again now that they’re silent.

Her hand has found its way into his. She’s not tugging him down, but the implied _together_ lingers. Their wedding bands quietly click against each other, and Daichi pulls in.

“Five more minutes,” he agrees. But she’ll ask for ten minutes, then fifteen, and then twenty. He'll give her all of them, all of the time he can give, until they’re off again in their respective tributaries and they're reconnected in their home stream.

He set the alarm earlier in anticipation of slowing down. They lie curled together on Yui's dishevelled half of the bed - her fading, him watching her with his hand propped on his chin.

“Daichi,” she says, the syllables slurred.

“Hm.”

“I love you.” And her mouth slides into a hint of the pout he knows so well. 

He catches her jutted lip and kisses her again, until her eyes close.

 

* * *

 

_(It was an eternity wedding ring: a circle of H-grade diamonds, around a size twelve platinum band._

_Suga saw it first. "Simple,” he said, nodding._

_Daichi bought it._

_He and Yui didn’t have a love that needed straying into the complexities. Simple suited them just fine, just like simple would suit Daichi a year later, dressed in monochrome with a purple and white sweet pea boutonniere that matched her bouquet._

_He watched a stunning figure in pearl white walk to him, clear eyes on his, poised elegantly on her father’s arm. Unlike in the dress rehearsals, Yui did a very good job of not crying and not stepping on the hem of her dress with her heels. She looked pleased with herself as she took Daichi’s hand, if a little rueful._

_“Whew, glad that’s over!” she whispered into his ear, as upbeat as ever. “But if I tripped, that would’ve put everyone on their toes, huh? ‘The bride took the plunge…. down the aisle.’ What a way to start a wedding!”_

_A lump rose in Daichi’s throat, along with his laugh.)_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Swimsuit Daiyuis are for another day.  
> The beach is based on Sunayama Beach, at Miyakojima Island in Okinawa. 
> 
> Aihara Mao (tall, ponytail) and Sasaki Chizuru (hairpins) are the girls' volleyball club members Yui's seen with most. I see Mao as this dry humoured, pragmatic movie buff whose brash personality has been softened by Yui's influence, and professional photography suits her lone wolf side. Chizuru seems sweet and personable; a travel agent wouldn't be a bad job for her.
> 
> I chose sweet pea flowers for the wedding, as they represent delicate pleasure and bliss. They range from cream to ocean hues to deep purple, the latter of which is one of Michi's favorite Daiyui colors. Daiyui gets a Western-style wedding (because apparently more Japanese couples are holding those nowadays) sans excessive campiness. 
> 
> I hope I showed different sides of Yui and Daichi here. I wanted to bring out Yui's cheery and quieter moments, and a reliable, steady Daichi who's scrambling for purchase and still crazy in love with Yui although they've been together for a while. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
